The Cracked Spine cover art

The Cracked Spine

Scottish Bookshop Mystery, Book 1

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Cracked Spine

By: Paige Shelton
Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

In need of a good adventure, Delaney Nichols takes the leap and moves to Edinburgh, Scotland, to start a job at The Cracked Spine. She doesn't know much about what she's gotten herself into other than that the work sounds exciting and that her new boss, Edwin MacAlister, has given her the opportunity of a lifetime.

When she arrives, she meets her new Scottish family; also working at The Cracked Spine are Rosie, perpetually wrapped in scarves, who always has tiny dog Hector in tow; Hamlet, a 19-year-old thespian with a colored past and a bright future; and Edwin, who is just as enigmatic and mysterious as Delaney expected.

But before she can settle in to her new life, a precious artifact - a previously undiscovered first folio of Shakespeare's plays - goes missing, and Edwin's sister is murdered, seemingly in connection to the missing folio. Delaney decides to do some sleuthing of her own to find out just what the real story is behind the priceless folio and how it's connected to the tragic death - all without getting harmed herself.

©2016 Paige Shelton-Ferrell (P)2016 Tantor
Cosy Detective International Mystery & Crime Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction Scotland
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Death at the Gates cover art
The Shell House Detectives cover art
The Museum Murder cover art
The Kensington Kidnap cover art
Dangerous Hardboiled Magicians: A Fantasy Mystery cover art
An English Garden Murder cover art
Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel cover art
Hallowed Murder cover art
Cape Bay Café Mystery Series: Boxed Set Books 1-3 cover art
The Third Girl cover art
Wine and Punishment cover art
Sins of the Fathers cover art
Dead Man’s Prayer cover art
Murder Simply Brewed cover art
Murder on the Hill cover art
City of Ghosts cover art

Critic reviews

"As warm and inviting as a cup of tea and a serving of fresh-from-the-oven shortbread." (Ellery Adams, author of Writing All Wrongs)

What listeners say about The Cracked Spine

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    9
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A decent story but flawed by the narration

As a story it provides an escape from daily life. The narrator has done well in her attempts of Scottish accents but failed badly in getting the particulars of speech from Edinburgh and the Lothians. It irked me for a while but it did grate less harshly as time progressed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Agree with other reviews, the attempt at a Scottish accent is astoundingly bad.

The actual Story Line was good, but this was negated by the Scottish aspect of the voice over. All other voiceovers were fine, imo.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I liked the narrator

it was ok but not brilliant. I found the main character annoying so wasn't invested in what happened

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Written for Americans??

If you can ignore the horrendous narration of any accents other than USA , it is a far fetched murder mystery. It’s free on audible and there are more; so no doubt, the cheap skate that I am will listen to more ..

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Wrong setting

Well, as cosy mysteries go this was nice enough, but truly hard to believe. I guess it might have been better in a setting the author is familiar with. Choosing Edinburgh/Scotland wasn't a smart move. I can't believe that in a big city like Edinburgh, which attracts tourists from all over the globe, anybody would have made such a big deal of meeting an American woman.
To my untrained ears, the narrator did a fine job with the accents, so the listen was enjoyable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

First in a New Series!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Well read by the narrator Carrington MacDuffie. With a great set of characters. Well plotted and written.

What did you like best about this story?

The mysteries contained within The Cracked Spine bookshop.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The underground tour.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Delaney saw Hamlets face.

Any additional comments?

Great start to a New Series. Hope we will get more audio books in this series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Storyline was good

The narrators attempts at a Scottish accent was quite off putting at times and occasionally annoying

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Dreadful reader - Awful Scottish accent

Such a disappointment that the story is ruined by the awful accents. An insult to Scotland.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Ponderous

Other reviewers have mentioned the narrator's 'bad' Scottish accents, I wasn't bothered by them at all, but I'm not Scottish. I found the story long winded and ponderous. I took a chance and fast forwarded quite a few chapters and am pretty sure I didn't miss anything. I am going to listen to the next book in the series to see if it's more interesting.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

easy listening

some glaring mispronounciations. Robert Louis Stevenson is pronounced Louie not Lewis. Clerk is pronounced Clark in Britain. etc. Apart from the mispronounced words the Scots accents were a bit dodgy and narrator sounded like they had a blocked nose.
Story line was reasonable and easy listening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!